Thousands Sign Petition to Drop Charges Against Ehud Halevy

Petition calling for the dismissal of charges against beaten Ehud Halevy has garnered over 9,600 signatures.

By Rachel Hirshfeld

First Publish: 10/22/2012, 1:29 PM

NYPD officers

Reuters

A petition calling for the dismissal of charges against Ehud Halevy, the 21-year-old who was beaten by two NYPD officers inside a Jewish community center in Brooklyn, has garnered over 9,600 signatures, at the time of publication.

Halevy was charged with a felony count of assault and three misdemeanors: resisting arrest, obstruction and criminal trespass, although video footage captured by security cameras seem to grant little validity to the charges.

The petition which is titled “Justice for Ehud, drop all charges!,” states, “We members of the Aliya Congregation are calling upon the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office to immediately drop all charges against Ehud Halevy, a member of our congregation who was attacked by two New York City Police Officers.”

“The Aliya (Alternative Learning Institute for Young Adults) Congregation is a spiritual center for at risk youth. We gave Ehud Halevy a member of our congregation who is currently homeless, full permission to sleep at the center in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. But on October 8, Ehud was aggressively woken up from his sleep in the middle of the night, wrongly accused of trespassing, then repeatedly and violently attacked by two police officers. The brutal attack was all caught on video and shows the officers continuing to beat Ehud despite his lack of resistance. Ehud told the police he had permission to be there but at no point before the beating took place did the police try to contact anyone from the center,” the petition continues.

“We want members of our youth center to feel like they are coming to a safe haven and a place they can call home and be protected and that trust was lost. We are calling on the Brooklyn District Attorney to drop all charges against Ehud immediately, he has suffered enough,” the petition adds.

Meanwhile, several hundred protesters rallied in support of Halevy in Crown Heights, Brookly on Friday, chanting “Stop police brutality, drop the charges now.”

The New York City Police Department and the Brooklyn district attorney’s office have both launched separate investigations into the incident.